


Pendranore's Watch

by IttyBittyTeapot (LittleSeedofDarkness)



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Ereri Secret Santa 2017, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Praise Kink, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-29
Updated: 2017-12-29
Packaged: 2019-02-23 18:33:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13196103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleSeedofDarkness/pseuds/IttyBittyTeapot
Summary: Despite a biting winter storm, Levi brings Eren somewhere special to see the Northern Lights.





	Pendranore's Watch

**Author's Note:**

  * For [elliewritesthings](https://archiveofourown.org/users/elliewritesthings/gifts).



> This is my secret Santa gift for [crying-abt-fictional-people](http://crying-abt-fictional-people.tumblr.com) for the ererievents 2017 Secret Santa Gift exchange. I must thank [sugarplumsenpai](http://archiveofourown.org/users/sugarplumsenpai/pseuds/sugarplumsenpai) for all her help with this. I really needed someone to assist me in knocking myself off the way too bittersweet direction this was heading. The boys gave me a hard time, but I really tried to make it as fluffy and sweet as I could. :)
> 
> Happy Holidays!! <3

 “It will be clearer near the woods.” Levi pulled his scarf back up, avoiding the whipping flakes against his face as they travailed the treacherous mountain pass. The snow was above his knees, his eyes downcast, watching as his legs were sucked into cold white fluff with each struggling step.

 “Pendranore’s Watch?” Eren yelled into a flurry of biting snow.

 Despite the tempest, and without a glance, Levi sensed Eren move closer beside him. He looked to the side, confirming what he already knew, seeing vibrant green eyes piercing him from under the fur lining of his hood.

 “It would be easier if I melted a path for us or went up front.” Eren pulled his cloak tighter and lifted his arms to his face, blocking the wind.

Though Eren’s long legs would more easily cut a trail through the dense powder, Levi continued to refuse his repeated offers to take the lead. He shook his head. “You’ll exhaust yourself.”

 Eren would spend his reserves down until he could no longer walk if Levi abided it. He already offered to put Levi on his back, to which Levi merely waved him off knowing Eren’s selflessness often overrode his common sense. Especially when it came to Levi. Eren owed him nothing, despite his periodic insistence he did. Levi had saved him five years earlier, offered his hand in sympathy and some unnamed niggling in his chest not to bind the boy to him, but because he hated ignorance and more so ignorant bullies.

 The type of people who attacked a recently orphaned fifteen-year-old. Who called him a ‘monster’ as they chased him from what had been his home with weapons and buckets of water in the midst of winter, foolishly hoping to quell the flames which lived within and destroy him.

 “You sure?” Eren asked.

 Levi braved the slicing bite of wind and took a longer look at Eren at his side. He could raze an entire village in moments had he desired, send a tornado of flame to engulf it, and yet, Levi never saw him do anything but good. He wondered how anyone could look into those same loving eyes he was losing himself in and raise a fist or weapon in hatred against him.

 “What?” Eren asked as he looked back at Levi, his mouth twitching up in a smile before it disappeared behind his scarf as he bound it tighter around his face.

 Levi’s lips curled despite the sharp ache in his teeth the cold wind caused. “Nothing.”

 He could see their destination in the distance. A crumbling tower surrounded by tall evergreens. There was a time when it had been a significant stop on the road. A rallying point, and station for trade and replenishing supplies. More importantly, it was part of a network of beacons which were lit for communications, and Pendranore’s Watch had been the most important, allowing full view of the mountain range and valley below.

 It was perfect for their use. The watchtower was abandoned for centuries, none caring for the disintegrating tombs of ages long since forgotten to time except in the dusty tomes which sat in the Capital’s libraries. A relic which belonged to the past of their people, now swathed in the fears of a new age where magic and the supernatural were no longer revered but shunned. Levi shook his head, pity humans could be so distrustful of what they no longer understood. Though, without such prejudices, he would never have found Eren.

 Besides Eren and Levi, the only others brave enough to venture there were thieves who occasionally used it for the night, though Levi had chased them off long ago, and each time they returned, the tower was unspoiled and no different than he remembered.

 “Are you all right?” Eren asked.

 “I haven’t frozen solid yet.” Levi’s fingers were numb, the skin on his face raw and weather-beaten. It felt like cracking leather. They had been traveling all day, the current of crisp air relentless, bludgeoning him more than it could ever hurt Eren. Levi could endure it, though he was grateful when they reached the surrounding treeline. He looked up, catching bits of sparkling beauty through the bows, thankful for the shelter the pines provided. “We’re getting close,” he said as the pace of his heart quickened along with his feet.

 Despite Levi’s discomfort, Eren desired to see something special, and Levi would deny him nothing. He would bring Eren to the ends of the earth, to any place which made him this awestruck if only to look at his eyes crinkle with a smile.

 “C’mon!” Eren grabbed Levi’s hand and pulled him along, gesturing ahead.

 Eren’s hand was warm around his, his excitement uncontained, the heat of his body flaring gently along with his joy, and Levi smiled behind the fur covering his mouth, knowing it was an uncontrolled reaction. Never did Eren’s hand become too hot Levi had to pull his own away, but when Eren was blissful, forgetting himself in pure contentment, he always produced a rush of warmth. His cheeks would color rosy, and he looked to Levi as if he smoldered from the inside, the light of a thousand suns shining in his smile.

 “We’re here!” Eren grinned at Levi and squeezed his smaller hand as a wave of heat thrummed across his palm.

 Levi raised his eyes, watching the snow abate, breaking into smaller flakes as they cleared the forest and stood at the base, tiny fragments of ice glinting in the bright colored lights of the North.

 “So pretty,” Eren said as he looked up and marveled at the sky. He was smiling, the red stains on his cheeks and the tip of his nose looking as if they glowed from the cold. “The color is more intense here.”

 “Ready?” Levi asked and glanced at Eren. He didn’t know what it was which without warning brought the gossamer hues of green and purple forth, filling the sky like whispers from another realm, only Eren loved it, and he needed to get them closer. “We’ll see it better from the top.”

“Let’s go.”

 Levi reached out, fingers gripping the cracks between crumbling stone and ice as they began to climb. It was a perilous ascent in winter, with the snow and the freezing temperatures only plummeting as they drew closer to the top. Eren would be all right as always. His abilities kept him warm, and he could blast away any numbness or chilling to his hands with a burst of flame. Levi, on the other hand, would need Eren to warm him if it became too much for his extremities.

 When they first began traveling together, it was something Levi didn’t ask for. From a young age, he was forced to take care of himself, never relying on help from others and the habit died hard. It had taken months of Eren’s insistent offers of aid, but Levi relented one cold spring night as they sat huddled at the base of a tree. Levi was no fool, he knew Eren desired to warm him in other ways as well. He saw the looks, the playful smiles, the way Eren’s eyes followed his movements, how they lingered on his face when they sat quietly to have tea. Despite his own feelings, Levi believed Eren only wanted him out of some misguided subconscious sense of obligation, so he tried his best to ignore it.

 Though when Levi nodded his acceptance at Eren’s gentle prompting to provide heat, he felt soul melting warmth, not only over his skin as Eren wrapped his arms around him but in his chest as well. Sometimes it left him wondering if there were more to Eren’s abilities than merely generating fire and casting spells, that they were perhaps empathetic too. It was why he hadn’t stopped Eren when he nuzzled against his cheek or coaxed his head to turn so he could press their lips together.

 Neither of them knew what they were doing when it first happened, but Eren had taught Levi how to kiss that night. At first, it began as a tentative peck, Eren asking for permission with a mumble against his lips. He had pressed lightly back, then Eren was nipping and licking into his mouth with all the fervor of the teenager he was. Hungry and fast, then soft and slow, sloppily devouring Levi as if would never have enough before it turned careful and searching and delicate. Like he would shatter Levi if he pressed too hard.

 They had both taught each other more since that night over four years before. Not only how to kiss and make love, but Levi came to understand he didn’t enjoy being alone as much as he thought he did. He discovered there was a person who was made for only him, breathtaking and gorgeous and pure, who filled up the empty aching hole in his chest. The next morning after their first kiss, when he woke up to Eren’s sweet face, he realized Eren’s smile was his favorite thing in existence, and he would do anything to see it.

 It was what Levi saw when they reached the top as Eren said, “I didn’t mind the trek, but why here?”

 Earlier Eren said he wished he could touch the northern lights. Levi could never fly him to the sky, but Pendranore’s Watch was the highest point in the land, the closest they could be without wings. He flicked his eyes up at Eren from under his bangs, brushing their knuckles together before wind-chapped fingers wrapped around them. “Look around you,” Levi said.

 They stood hand in hand and watched bright violet and emerald coruscating across the sky, silent save for their breath filling the clearness of the air with thick billowing fog as Levi leaned his head against Eren’s shoulder.

 Eren sniffed and rubbed the back of his hand over his cheeks then slipped his hand into Levi’s hood, held it against his face, and took a long look at him. “Why do beautiful things always make me cry?” he asked.

 Levi reached up, feeling the wetness of tears on the back of Eren’s hand, so hot against his freezing skin they felt cold. “Maybe because deep down we know, someday we won’t be able to see them anymore.”

 Honesty always came more naturally to Levi than pretty words or platitudes, and at times he wished he could be eloquent. Fearing he said the wrong thing, his eyes darted down at their hands entwined when he saw Eren’s chin begin to quiver, though he heard him drag in a deep centering breath. When he looked back up, Eren’s jaw was set tight and determined.

 “They make me happy even if I can’t look at them forever, “ Eren said as he moved behind Levi and slipped his pack from his shoulders, then wound his arms around him and pulled him back against his chest. “That’s what makes it more precious.”

 Squeezing Eren’s arm clamped around him, Levi stretched up, kissed his cheek, and pretended they were the only two people who existed. It wasn’t hard to believe up so high in the silence at the top of the world, feeling Eren’s cheek resting on the top of his head, his muscular arms tightening around him every now and then.

 The frigid temperatures didn’t allow for hours under the sky, though they stood watching the ebb of shimmering hues for as long as they could. Quiet other than a gasp or “Ooh!” from Eren each time the colors undulated and intensified. Only when Levi could no longer suppress his shivering did Eren prod them to move inside the shelter of the tower.

 “You’re cold, and there’s only so much I can do,” Eren said, “you need tea.”

 There was no point in arguing. “Something spicy.” Levi picked up his gear and moved to the heavy wooden door leading to the heart of the spire, and pulled it open.

 “The black tea with nutmeg,” Eren said with a stern nod, looking far older than he was. “You’re an icicle.”

 Once they were inside, Levi pulled the door shut, and barred it. The interior was by no means warm, yet it wasn’t as frosty as the outside. Eren moved to the front as they began descending slick stone steps lower into the tower. He held up his hand, and it erupted in bright yellow flame, lighting their way to the stronghold’s deepest chambers.

 Levi smirked. “Show off.”

 “Always,” Eren said, “and it’s better than one of us falling on our faces.”

 Levi knew this location better than most of their camping spots, though they didn’t often brave the elements to camp there in winter. Coming back to it now as they strode down the granite corridors toward the hall where they always stayed, he felt safe. There was a comforting familiarity with the walls, in the smell of earth and rock, and the protection from its thickness and strength.

 Eren was watching Levi, looking contemplative. Levi was near asking what was wrong when Eren said, “I wish we could make this our house.”

 Being they were always traveling, it was a thought Levi often shared. The desire to have somewhere, anywhere they could call their own, somewhere safe where no one would disturb them or attempt to chase them away because of Eren’s gifts. He could see the glint in Eren’s eyes. Unlike Levi, Eren was quick to tears, though once in awhile, he said something which caused the corners of Levi’s to burn. Most often something small in passing, not long drawn out declarations of undying love woven in poetic exposition, but little, honest confessions. Usually, a word or two which sent a pang to Levi’s heart.

 “It’s too far for getting supplies,” Levi said and cleared his throat as Eren stopped, “but I wish we could too.”

 Eren held up his arm across the entryway, halting Levi when they reached a stone arch. “Stand back,” he said as he smiled, and sent a blast of heat into the empty room. Flames danced from his palms then exploded off stone walls before going out with a poof. “It’ll be nice and toasty now.”

 “How come you didn’t do that last time?” Levi asked.

 Eren shrugged. “We’ve never been here when it was this cold before. I don’t want you to freeze either.”

 Levi walked inside and pulled back his hood. “Bed in the corner again?”

 “Same spot as last time. There’s less of a draft.”

 Setting up their space moved quickly, practiced motions and routine leaving Levi to break down their packs, first unrolling thick hides to set on the floor before he piled on the softer furs and blankets Eren so loved to snuggle into.

 There was a heap of seasoned logs stored in the adjacent chamber which they stocked the previous spring. Eren retrieved them and began crisscrossing the firewood in the hearth the way Levi showed him when they first came to travel together.

 Inhaling deep, Levi smiled at the cloying scent of sap and resin. The fragrance of fir trees caressing against the knot of affection buried deep in his chest. It ever reminded him of Eren and fresh snow on the soft bed of needles he had found him injured and shrunk on when they first met.

 “You warm enough?” Eren asked. “Because I can make this fire really big if you want.”

 Levi raised a brow. “Showing off again.”

 Eren laughed. “I know it impresses you.” Fire grew under his hands, the kindling below the logs sparking to life with a burst of emerald flame. “Should be warm in no time,” he said as he stood, setting about casting enchantments around the doorway to the chamber, protecting them for the night.

 Levi was filling the kettle with his waterskin and hanging it over the fire as soon as Eren finished. He had taken his cloak and outer gear off, the room warming from Eren heating it and the fire he built, yet his fingers were still chilled. He rubbed them vigorously in front of the flames, only to feel Eren slide up behind him and cover his smaller hands with his own.

 He could hear Eren inhale deeply as he nudged his nose against the back of his neck and his hands flared with warmth.

 “You smell so good,” Eren said, humming against his nape.

 Levi snorted, though he sunk further back into Eren’s embrace. “Like sweat and shitty snow.”

 “I like it.” Eren pressed a kiss behind his ear, sending sparks downward. “I’ll get the teacups.”

 Though impractical, the tea set was something Levi insisted they travel with. Sleeping in the woods was fine, having dinner in abandoned towers was acceptable, but having tea with anything other than a proper service was not.

 They only possessed a small pot which held enough for two servings, and a set of two chipped, mismatched porcelain cups. He had owned one cup for over a decade, but the second was the first item Levi ever bought with Eren in mind. On a trip to a village three months after he found him. It wasn’t only because he knew Eren intended to stay, but also, and perhaps more important, Levi realized then he didn’t ever want Eren to go. A quiet acceptance of “them” regardless anything intimate had yet to have happened between them at that time.

 Sitting down next to Eren with the kettle in hand, Levi’s lips twitched as he watched Eren’s fingers trace the decorations on the side of his teacup. There was no need for discussion as they quietly prepared tea, their movements were memorized, the quiet, unspoken system playing itself out as Eren’s hand darted under Levi’s arm to put tea in the sieve, Levi then pouring carefully even though he couldn’t truly burn Eren. Finally, Eren placed the top back on the tin when Levi returned the pot to the hearth.

 “That was a really long walk,” Eren said as he leaned over the steeping pot, waving his hand through the steam as he inhaled before he poured them both a cup.

 “But worth it, don’t you think?” Levi took a sip, then poked at Eren’s knee, leaving his fingers to linger and brush over the worn fabric of Eren’s trousers.

 Resting his hand on Levi’s, Eren's eyes lit up. “You seem needy tonight.”

 “’Needy?’” Levi rested on his back, leaning the top of his head against Eren’s thigh. “I’m never needy.” Though that wasn’t entirely true, the way he reached up to toy with Eren’s long hair, twisting the locks around said differently. How he watched the tips of Eren’s fingers dancing on the rim of his teacup, wishing to have those same movements skittering over his skin in the same fashion.

 Knowing Eren was watching him didn’t deter Levi. He was aware Eren could tell what he was thinking by the expression on his face. The flush coming to his cheeks which no doubt matched his own. If Levi didn’t know better, he would swear Eren could watch the fantasies in his mind reflecting in his eyes.

 No matter how much Levi found it difficult to admit, there was something soft which tugged at his heart. Something Eren would probably call “romantic” or an equally flowery sentiment. It was fluffy and warm, the same emotion which drove him to often lay Eren down and lightly stroke over every inch of his skin while leaving kisses in the wake of those touches as he twisted beneath him.

 Eren’s hair slid from Levi’s fingers as he shifted, leaving his hand feeling empty, his body devoid of warmth after he rolled away. He sat up and clamped his mouth shut instead of requesting Eren return, watching as he dug into his pack and pulled a vial from the front pocket. The roguish smile on Eren’s face told Levi precisely what he was planning and where it would lead. An expression which managed to be coy and bashful at the same time. Something completely Eren.

 His eyes twinkled as he crawled forward and nuzzled his cheek against Levi’s. “Warm enough now?” Eren asked, his hands moving up to heat the sides of Levi’s neck and shoulders.

 “Eren,” Levi whispered as he was pressed back against the furs, soft and comforting, though not as much as the fingers already teasing at the skin peeking from between the waist of his pants and the hem of his shirt.

 “You want this, no?” The flicker of flame danced in Eren’s eyes, making him look mischievous when coupled with the grin rising on his lips. “Let me show you how much I love you,” he said.

 “Mhm.” Levi’s eyes slipped to the side as he stretched his neck and swallowed. Being treated like this was something he had only experienced from Eren. How he looked at him as if he was the only perfect thing in a cruel and ugly world. He could feel it when Eren kissed his Adam’s apple quivering in his throat, as his scorching hands heated up and stroked underneath his shirt with pressure so light Levi’s skin reached out for more.

 Familiar movements of Eren’s eyes tracked Levi’s body, shaking his frame as he appraised him with adoration and tenderness, so intense and delving Levi lay splintering below him. Eren always had this effect, where Levi couldn’t help but watch him as Eren willed him wordlessly to focus, to not turn away.

 He reached down to hold Levi’s face as the pads of his thumbs swiped over cheekbones, beneath shadows of muted purple-black, fingertips alight on traces of crow’s feet. “You’re beautiful,” Eren said as his hand shifted through a lock of grey standing out against ebony.

 Often Levi couldn’t hold his gaze when he said it, though he looked into the pellucid green shining back and staring at him. Staring and penetrating the wall Levi kept himself secured behind, rendering him bare even with his clothing still upon him.

 Levi reached up to trace the edge of Eren’s jaw, he looked soft and breakable, but so hard at the same time. Like he was about to come apart with the emotions.

 Clearing his strangled throat, Levi swallowed as he swiped a fingertip under Eren’s eye. “I’ve got you,” he said reaching up to tangle his hands in silken hair and pull Eren’s face against his neck.

 It wasn’t out of the ordinary, Eren looking at him then crying, and Levi learned it didn’t always mean Eren was unhappy. Sometimes the feelings were too much, too overwhelming and it was the only way he could let them out.  

 Hot salt dripped over his shoulder, though he felt chapped lips smiling against his skin as Eren whispered, “I told you beautiful things make me cry.”

 “Shhh,” Levi hushed, carding fingers through Eren’s hair. He wasn’t beautiful, not with his height or his battle scars and tired eyes, not with his battered hands and the wrinkles he could see beginning to etch his face each time he looked in the mirror. In truth, he still didn’t understand why Eren thought it, why he looked at him as if he was priceless.

 Eren deserved more than Levi. He was worth more than what a broken old ranger could ever give him. Eren was the one who was beautiful. Burning with splendor from within, his light shining through in gorgeous, expressive eyes. In the golden smile which fractured Levi’s heart with fondness each time he saw it. In his selflessness, his unrestrained curiosity, and eternal devotion.

 “You shhh.” Eren sniffed as he pushed Levi’s shirt up and sat back, pulling it over his head, and taking it with him.

 The heat flushed down Levi’s chest and up his neck as Eren looked down at him, trailed fingers over the scars running down his sides, then across the deeper one in the center of his chest right above his heart. If Eren ever learned how he obtained the injury, Levi wondered if he would still love him.

 “This is proof you’re alive,” Eren said and leaned in to press their lips together, only to pull back and breathe, “why it’s beautiful too.”

 Levi sighed into it as he let himself go, spiraling away from restraint as Eren dove for his mouth once more. He could rail against the sentiment, tell Eren how wrong he was, but he would never believe Levi even if Levi didn’t think it himself. His body went slack as the weight seeped from it before he gave in a little more, his hands skimming over Eren’s lower back, fingertips finding skin smoother than the porcelain cups lying forgotten next to the furs of their makeshift bed.

 “I know what you’re thinking.” Eren was whispering in Levi’s ear as he traced up and down his chest, drawing out a choked whine. “That you don’t think you’re worthy.”

 “I’m not.”

 “That’s not for you to decide.” Eren kissed Levi’s forehead. “Do you want me to shut up?”

 “No.” As much as Levi fought it, twisting beneath the weight of Eren’s body as he venerated him, the truth was he didn’t want him to stop.

 “Good.” Eren’s eyes glinted with mirth as he smiled. “As much as you try and resist it, you love when I make you fall apart.”

 Levi wouldn’t lie. He nodded, losing himself in eyes which only implored as Eren pulled back to watch while he began to unravel.

 “Exactly,” Eren breathed.

 His cheeks were aflame at having been caught. Eren could see into him, past the dishonest barrier Levi couldn’t figure out how to break down, the one who held him prisoner to the voice which always told him he was undeserving. When he couldn’t take the weight of Eren’s gaze anymore, he reached out, crashing up to taste Eren on his lips and in his mouth.

 _Say it again,_ Levi thought, trying to ask without using his voice. From the first time Eren took him, and almost every time after, he always said it. It never failed to make him squirm and blush, his urge to hide against Eren’s neck fighting with the need to keep looking into his eyes.

 Eren whispered against his lips. “I’m going to make you fall to pieces.”

 The anticipation of it unwound him, the inner battle making Levi tremble and pant, his skin already over-sensitive, starving for more of Eren. The years had never numbed Levi to those words, only chipped deeper like icepicks into his walls until they were all but crumbling. Levi didn’t care anymore if Eren would destroy all of the shields he built, he would gladly show him where every weak point was.

 A “please” sat on Levi’s tongue when he felt Eren press against him, his fingers teasing the goose pimpled flesh of his torso. _Please, please, please,_ Levi thought. He wanted Eren to disentangle him, force him to mislay himself in the adoration.

 Leaning back down, Eren sucked Levi’s bottom lip into his mouth, gentle and insistent. Levi couldn’t help but push closer as Eren wound him up, his fingertips teasing at the sensitive spots on his neck and hip. Smiling against his lips when Levi’s frantic fingers unbuttoned his shirt, slipping it off strong, tan arms, and flinging it away.

 The skin on Levi's stomach tickled as Eren’s hand moved down, the backs of his fingers disturbing the trail of fine black hairs which extended from his navel to below the waist of his trousers. Heat coiled in Levi’s belly below Eren’s hand as he breathed a moan into his mouth and Eren’s fingers found the buttons on his pants.

 Eren hummed. “So soft.”

 “Hm…” the last shard of Levi’s resistance was lost when Eren removed the rest of their clothes, and there was nothing left between them. Levi whimpered as his thighs hugged Eren’s hips tight, feeling him press down in slow, gentle motions against his cock. Each time Eren worshipped him like this, Levi lost himself a bit sooner, the threads of his pride fraying more quickly under Eren’s touches and praises.

 “This,” Eren said and paused, dipping his head to mouth endearments against Levi’s collarbone, “fits perfectly against my lips.”

 Everything about them fit perfectly together, from the way their hands entwined, to tea making, and the way they could read each other with no words spoken between them. The affection was too much. Levi had to touch to give it all back since he couldn’t tell him with his voice. He kneaded his hands into Eren’s shoulders, slid them down his back, feeling muscles rolling beneath his palms, lazy and smooth like waves lapping at the shore on a windless day. Yes, Eren was beautiful, and Levi filled his lungs with him until they burned with springtime, rain, and home.

 “You’re perfect.” Eren pressed kisses over Levi’s heart, flicking his eyes up with impishness and adoration as Levi groaned.

 Clamping his eyes shut, Levi whispered, “Eren…” His chest tickled inside like a butterfly was caught behind his ribs when Eren’s breath fanned over his neck.

 “There’s no tea…” Eren said before he flicked his tongue over the hollow at the base of Levi’s neck, “that tastes better than this.”

 Stretching his neck back, Levi opened his eyes, watching their silhouettes painted onto the wall from the firelight. He gritted his teeth, trapping a whine as Eren’s mouth traveled up his neck.

 “Don’t hide,” Eren said as he stretched up and tapped the tip of his nose against Levi’s. His fingers reached down to draw circles on his hips, over the top of his thigh, and back up before they were squeezing his side.

 “I…” Levi closed his eyes again.

 Burying his hands in Levi’s hair, Eren ran his thumbs over his cheekbones. “Let me see your eyes.”

 Levi blinked up at him. Eren could always reduce him to this. A panting mess with no words, the tempest of emotions filling him up until they were barreling through so fast he couldn’t grasp any of them.

 “They look like storm clouds over the sea,” Eren said, smiling down when Levi blushed. “I could live in them.” Turning, Eren extended his arm upward, sparks shooting toward the stone ceiling from his palm. Tiny glimmers of light fell before they froze and hung above them.

 Levi gasped, the room looked like it was filled with stars. Miniature pinpoints of light strewn around them, glowing in the dimness.

 “I’d give them all to you if I could.” Eren wrapped his arms around Levi’s shoulders, pulling them together as close as he could.

 Now Levi was gone. Any arguments or debates soundly tossed to the side as Eren rolled their hips together. He moaned when Eren’s cock slid against his as he stroked his tongue inside his mouth, fighting to get nearer, his hands grappling across Eren’s back, unable to touch or feel enough.

 “Closer,” Levi said into Eren’s mouth. His voice was dry and small, hoarse from the effort of controlling himself. Eren was never close enough, even when they were connected, when they were pushed flush against one another, it still didn’t completely fill the hollow in his gut.

 Eren pulled away, and Levi tried not to call out for him, biting his mutinous tongue as it threatened to spill everything out. Hearing the cork on the vial, he cracked his eyes and watched Eren bite his lip before he was plastering their bodies back together.

 His lips slotted against Levi’s once more as he felt stretching, his body pressing into Eren’s touch within him. He wanted to beg, to ask for more as Eren brushed so close to that place inside which made him see stars.

 “You’re so good for me,” Eren said pressing close again then sliding in a second finger along with the first, “aren’t you?”

 Jaw clamping shut to hold himself back, Levi groaned. Even a year ago he wouldn’t have said it, he knew what Eren was asking of him, teasing a response out of him, what he would receive in exchange for it. He shook his head from side to side as the answer slipped from his throat to the tip of his tongue.

 “Yes,” Levi whispered, his hands clutching Eren’s shoulders when he curled his fingers against that far too sensitive place inside.

 “Good boy,” Eren breathed. “You’re perfect.”

 It would have sounded absurd if Levi weren’t in the state he was. A twenty-year-old praising his much older lover, assuring him he was good and perfect, calling him a ‘boy.’ He would scoff at the notion if something about it didn’t leave him utterly undone and melting beneath Eren.

 Eren continued whispering words of adoration in Levi’s ear until he was finished, his fingers replaced with his cock, nudging up against Levi as he looked into him.

 Levi traced his thumb over Eren’s lips, attempting to hold back a begging please as long as he could.

 Before he could say it into the room, Eren drank the plea out of his mouth, exchanging it with a whispered, “I love you.” Then there was the reassuring comfort of Eren deep inside, melding them together as close as they could get.

 “You want more of this.” Eren swiped his tongue across Levi’s lips then licked into his mouth, kissing him soft and quiet and searching as he moved his hips in slow, deep circles, and brushed his fingertips over the pulse in his neck.

 “Ah…” was all Levi could muster as he wrapped his arms around Eren and clung to him.

 Eren brushed the hair away from Levi’s face as they parted. “You feel like home,” he said and took more kisses.

 It still wasn’t close enough, and Levi wanted to crawl inside Eren’s chest and just live there. He tightened his arms around him, trying to drag him closer still, wrapping one arm around his slender waist while his other hand grasped his shoulder. Levi knew Eren could feel his desperation when he slid his lips down over his neck, finding the sensitive spot under his left ear.

 Rocking him back, Eren sat up, hefting Levi into his lap and carefully entering him again. Levi bit his lips, knocking his forehead lightly against Eren’s when his head jerk forward. He looked into glassy green, pooling with tears once more and wiped a finger over Eren’s cheek.

 Eren was the one breaking Levi into tiny little pieces with words and tenderness, and yet he was always the one who shed tears. Levi felt him cling tighter as his hips snapped up, embracing him as if he were irreplaceable, all his sentiments and sweet words sinking further into Levi as Eren hugged him tightly.

 “Love you, love you, love you,” Eren chanted into the space between them while Levi kissed away his tears.

 Levi was falling apart in his lap, just as Eren promised, though he willed his trembling arms to slide up Eren’s back, over his neck, and tangle in soft brown locks before he slid them forward and grasped his face in his hands, holding him fast against his forehead.

 Eren stared into his eyes, holding his gaze, and Levi knew what he was looking for. It would be so easy to give with the way he was watching him, devoted green pleading to hear it as Eren put all his emotions into Levi with each careful thrust inside. Levi didn’t know why he barely said it. It wasn’t he didn’t feel it, that his heart wasn’t swelling with the feeling, aching to have Eren know what was exploding in his chest.

 He tried to tell him with his eyes, resisting the urge to hide in the crook of Eren’s neck at a surprisingly deep roll of his hips. He was daring him to say it, driving the confession out of him with each press of his fingertips, every blink which revealed the same needy green sparkling with anticipation, and each quirk of his lips.

 Levi swallowed and shut his eyes tight before he opened them and looked back up at Eren. “I love you.” It was quiet, as if he whispered the endearment to the breeze, though Eren heard him nonetheless.

 He devoured Levi’s lips as he pressed him back down to the furs, lunging into him as he ran his fingers over the underside of his cock. Levi cried out, all his nerves reaching out to feel more of Eren everywhere. He felt greedy, wanton, desperate as Eren laid him completely bare.

 “I want to take you with me,” Eren said as his hips sped up, arm tightening around him.

 Those words were all Levi needed, and he let him, clinging as tight as he could as the tremors of his release wracked his frame, Eren following him moments after.

 With careful hands, Eren turned them, and Levi nuzzled his face against Eren’s chest, pressed up beneath the underside of his chin, his hand splayed out over warm skin to feel the beat of Eren’s heart under his palm.

 Eren threw a long arm over Levi’s side and drew the blankets over them, then reached to run his fingers through Levi’s hair. “Thank you,” he whispered.

 “Mm,” Levi hummed, tangling his legs around Eren’s and pressing as close as he could to steal his warmth. He drew shapes over Eren’s chest. “I meant it.”

 “I know,” Eren said, and Levi could hear the smile in his voice as their hands entwined. “We didn’t finish our tea.”

 “It’s cold now.”

 “I can warm it up.”

 Levi sighed. “Not yet, I don’t want to move.”

 Eren tucked the blanket up a little tighter, and Levi closed his eyes, just listening to Eren breathe.

 “I know we couldn’t live here, but I think we could stay for a few days,” Eren said.

 They had more than enough food, plenty of tea, and there was always the chance the sky would be full of gorgeous lights the next night.

 Levi squeezed Eren and pressed a kiss to his chin. “I think I’d like that.”

 


End file.
